Pokémon: Ranking The Starters Of All 6 Generations From Worst To Best

16. Piplup

Featuring heavily in the accompanying anime series for the generation, you'd probably expect that Piplup would be placed much higher on this list. Sadly that just can't be the case; Piplup's an example of a starter Pokémon having its cuteness unnecessarily dialled up against all other useful factors.

Let's face it; Piplup is cute, but it goes without saying that for the majority of players choosing the companion with which they'll venture off into a new region, cuteness isn't a consideration. There's also the fact that Piplup loses that once it evolves into Empoleon, of course.

Eventually becoming a dual Water and Steel Type Pokémon, Piplup's odd type combo make it a difficult battler to find a place for. It learns all the Water Type moves that you'd expect it to, but without being statistically proficient enough to really excel at them, while also failing to become the solid powerhouse that you'd hope a Steel Type would.